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“We need to preserve this environment for future generations, let us ensure that this youth…inherit a better Johannesburg than the one that you and I inherited,” Mashaba told the gathered crowd on Saturday.

“Thanks so much for coming out in numbers and doing what you’re doing for our community,” he added.

Dubbed A Re Sebetseng (meaning “let’s work”), the campaign brought people of all ages together to roll up their sleeves and help to clean up litter all over the city.

And in doing so, Joburg residents joined the international effort to create a cleaner world and support the UN’s Global Goals.

The goals are a 17-step road map to ending extreme poverty: addressing climate change, life on land, and creating sustainable cities and communities — alongside other goals calling for gender equality, education access, and an end to hunger and malnutrition.

“In a city of this size, it is essential that residents and the administration work together to maintain the urban environment,” he continued. “That is why we started A Re Sebetseng — to encourage residents to be part of creating the kind of city that everyone would like to live in.”

“Global Citizen is so happy to be bringing Mandela 100 to Johannesburg, working with the city to promote activism within the community,” said Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans. “Efforts like A Re Sebetseng provide opportunities for each of us to take actions which promote a healthy planet and environment, a key part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”

And some lucky participants who took part in the cleanup will also be in with a chance of winning tickets to the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100, which will be coming to the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Dec. 2.

If people come and take part in all three cleanups, in September, October, and November, they’ll have the chance to win a VIP ticket.

The Joburg cleanup coincided with the annual Cleanup and Recycle SA Week, an initiative launched by the local plastics industry, and supported by retailers, according to the Department of Environmental Affairs.

The aim of the week is to “increase an awareness of the social, environmental, and economic benefits of recycling,” according to Douw Steyn, sustainability director of Plastics SA and member of the National Recycling Forum team.

“During this time, we encourage communities, schools, and businesses to clean up the areas where they work, live, and play by collecting the litter and ensuring that it gets recycled,” he said.